Guarded surgical knife handle

ABSTRACT

A guarded surgical knife handle includes a handle portion with a blade holder, a chamber within the handle portion, and a slot. The guarded surgical knife handle also includes a guard having an open distal end slidably mounted within the handle portion that can slide longitudinally between an unguarded position and a guarded position. The guard is sized to surround the blade in the guarded position. The guarded surgical knife handle also includes a latch that latches the guard when the guard is slid into the guarded position and a first button that disengages the latch. The guarded surgical knife handle includes a bias member that forces the guard in a proximal direction to an unguarded position when the latch is disengaged along with a second button extending through the slot used to slide the guard in a distal direction into the guarded position.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of prior application Ser.No. 13/556,673, filed Jul. 24, 2012, which is a continuation applicationof prior application Ser. No. 12/620,262, filed Nov. 17, 2009 (now U.S.Pat. No. 8,256,331), which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/116,497, filed on Nov. 20, 2008, the contents of eachbeing incorporated herein by reference.

SUMMARY

In particular embodiments of the present invention, a guarded surgicalknife handle includes a handle portion with a blade holder, a chamberwithin the handle portion, and a slot. The guarded surgical knife handlealso includes a guard having an open distal end slidably mounted withinthe handle portion that can slide longitudinally between an unguardedposition and a guarded position. The guard is sized to surround theblade in the guarded position. The guarded surgical knife handle alsoincludes a latch that latches the guard when the guard is slid into theguarded position and a first button that disengages the latch. Theguarded surgical knife handle includes a bias member that forces theguard in a proximal direction to an unguarded position when the latch isdisengaged along with a second button extending through the slot used toslide the guard in a distal direction into the guarded position.

In other embodiments of the present invention, a method for unguardingand guarding a surgical knife includes providing a guarded surgicalknife with a handle portion including a blade and a slot. The guardedsurgical knife also includes a guard having an open distal end slidablymounted within the handle portion. The guard is latched by a latch in aguarded position. The method also includes disengaging the latch using abutton to allow a bias member to force the guard in a proximaldirection. The method further includes sliding the guard to the guardedposition to re-engage the latch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a disassembled view of a guarded surgical knife handleaccording to a particular embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the guarded surgical knife handle of FIG. 1in a guarded and unguarded position, respectively; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example method of unguarding andguarding a surgical knife according to a particular embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of this description, the following conventions are employedin naming various locations of the guarded surgical knife handle.“Longitudinal” describes a direction generally along an axis between oneend of the guarded surgical knife that holds a blade in proximity to apatient and the opposite end near the surgeon. “Proximal” describes alocation relatively closer to the surgeon than the patient in thelongitudinal direction; conversely, “distal” refers to a location thatis closer to the patient. “Upper,” “lower,” “top,” and “bottom” describelocations in terms of the orientation of the guarded surgical knifehandle as it is held by a surgeon to perform incisions on a patient.“Vertical” describes a direction generally along an axis between the topand bottom of the guarded surgical knife handle, while “height” measuresa distance in a vertical direction. “Lateral” describes a directiongenerally along an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal and verticaldirections, corresponding generally to left and right directions fromthe surgeon's perspective.

FIG. 1 illustrates a disassembled view of various components of aguarded surgical knife handle 100 according to a particular embodimentof the present invention, FIG. 2A is a cross-section of the assembledguarded surgical knife 100 in a guarded position, and FIG. 2B is across-section of the guarded surgical knife 100 in an unguardedposition. The guarded surgical knife handle 100 includes a guard 200with an open distal end 202 slidably mounted in a chamber formed withina handle portion 300 (shown in two pieces in FIG. 1). The handle portion300 includes a blade holder 302 adapted to hold a blade 304.

The blade 304 may be any sort of blade suitable for surgical incisionsand may have a straight or curved edge. In various embodiments of thepresent invention, the blade 304 may be straight or may be inclined at aparticular height and angle (as depicted in FIG. 1), and the guardedsurgical knife handle 100 may have colored portions according to apredetermined color code to indicate the type of blade for the guardedsurgical knife handle 100. The guard 200 is sized appropriately for theparticular type of blade 304, which may be done, for example, byincreasing the height of the guard 200 at the open distal end 204. Anotch 301 sized to receive the portion of the guard 200 having a greaterheight may be provided in the handle portion 300. The relative height ofthe blade holder 302 above a bottom of the lower handle portion 300 mayalso be selected to facilitate use of the blade 304 during surgery andto easily fit the guard portion 202 around the blade 304. For example, ablade holder 302 used to hold a straight blade might hold the point ofblade at a height approximately in the middle of guarded surgical knife,while a blade holder 302 for a blade with a larger height might beplaced at the bottom of the lower handle portion 300.

The guard 200 may also include additional safety features to furtherreduce the likelihood of inadvertent contact with the blade 304. Forexample, if the guard 200 has a height and/or width sufficiently largeto admit a finger at the open distal end 202, the guard 200 may includenarrowing features such as internal ribs (not shown) to prevent thefinger from entering the guard 200. The guarded surgical knife handle100 may also include features to prevent the guard 200 from beingdisplaced so as to contact the blade 304. The guard 200 may also beadvantageously configured to allow the surgeon to more easily visualizethe blade 304. For example, the guard 200 may be formed partially orentirely from a transparent material, so that the surgeon can see theblade in both the guarded and unguarded positions.

The guarded surgical knife handle 100 includes a latch 204 and a biasmember 206. The latch 204 holds the guard 200 in a guarded position,while the bias member 206 forces the guard 200 in a proximal directionwhen the latch 204 is disengaged. In the depicted embodiment, the biasmember 206 is a coil spring, but other suitable mechanical arrangementsfor forcing the guard 200 in the proximal direction could also be used.In the guarded position, the latch 204 is held against a detent 310 bythe force of the bias member 206. A button 306 is depressed to push thelatch 204 down below the detent 310, thus disengaging the latch 204 andallowing the guard 200 to slide in the proximal direction due to theforce exerted by the bias member 206.

To return the guard 200 to the guarded position, a second button 308 isprovided that extends through a slot 309 in the handle portion 300. Thesecond button 308 is used to slide the guard 200 back into the guardedposition. As the guard 200 slides forward, the latch 204 is pushed downby the detent 310. Once the latch 204 passes the detent 310, the latch204 pops up to rest behind the detent 310, thus re-engaging the latch204 and latching the guard 200 in the guarded position. Although aparticular embodiment of the latch mechanism has been described, otheralternative embodiments will be readily apparent to one skilled in theart. For example, the button 306 could be a trigger beneath the guardedsurgical knife handle 100 that lowers a detent latching the guard 200 inplace. In general, any suitable mechanism for holding the guard 200 inplace against the force exerted by the bias member 206 may be used forthe latch 204.

The buttons 306 and 308 may include textured surfaces to facilitategripping the guarded surgical knife handle 100 and to provide a tactileindication of the location of the buttons 306 and 308. Additionally, abottom grip feature (not shown) may be extend from the bottom of thehandle portion 300 to allow a secure finger hold and to permit thesurgeon to hold the guarded surgical knife handle 100 more securelywhile the button 308 is being slid. The bottom grip feature mayadvantageously include a flattened bottom surface that prevents theguarded surgical knife handle 100 from rolling when it is set down on alevel, flat surface. A textured grip surface may also be placed adjacentto the bottom grip feature to make the surgeon's grip on the guardedsurgical knife handle even more secure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart 400 illustrating an example method of unguardingand guarding a guarded surgical knife handle 100 according to aparticular embodiment of the present invention. At step 402, a guardedsurgical knife handle 100 is provided with the latch 204 engaged. Atstep 404, the latch 204 is disengaged by pressing the button 306, thusallowing the bias member 206 to force the guard 200 proximally into anunguarded position. At step 406, the guard 200 is slid using the button308 back into the guarded position, thus re-engaging the latch 204.

The present invention has been described by reference to certainpreferred embodiments; however, it should be understood that it may beembodied in other specific forms or variations thereof without departingfrom its essential characteristics. The embodiments described above aretherefore considered to be illustrative in all respects and notrestrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appendedclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for unguarding and guarding asurgical knife, comprising: providing a guarded surgical knifecomprising: a handle portion comprising a blade holder adapted to hold ablade, a chamber within the handle portion, and detent, and a slot; aguard having an open distal end slidably mounted within the handleportion and operable to slide longitudinally between an unguardedposition and a guarded position, wherein the guard is sized to surroundthe blade in the guarded position; a cantilevered latch formed on theguard, the latch operable to engage the detent to latch the guard whenthe guard is slid into the guarded position; a first button operable todisengage the latch; a bias member configured to force the guard in aproximal direction to an unguarded position when the latch isdisengaged; and a second button extending through the slot and operableto slide the guard in a distal direction into the guarded position,disengaging the latch using the first button to allow the bias member toforce the guard in the proximal direction; and sliding the guard to theguarded position to re-engage the latch.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the guard comprises a transparent material.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the bias member comprises a coil spring.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the distal end of the guard has a relatively greaterheight such that the distal end is sized to fit around the blade.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the handle comprises a notch, and the notchis sized to receive the portion of the guard with the relatively greaterheight.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the blade holder is located ata bottom surface of the handle portion.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the first button comprises a textured top surface.